LAKEPORT — After dropping a 41-40 decison to Clear Lake on Jan. 14 on their own court, the Lower Lake Trojans returned the favor with a down-to-the-wire 56-53 victory over the host Cardinals during Tuesday’s North Central League I varsity girls basketball meeting in Lakeport.
Clear Lake (6-5 league, 11-9 overall) missed an open 3-pointer at the buzzer after using Rylee Mix, the Cardinals’ leading scorer with 16 points, as a decoy on an inbounds play from half court with 1.6 seconds remaining.
Lower Lake improved to 6-5 and 10-13 overall behind 16 points from Shelby Sapeta, 13 from Margo Cordova and 12 from Sam Hughes. Clear Lake also had three players score in double figures. Besides Mix, Sydney Howe tossed in 14 points and Joy Ingalls had 11.
“Fourth quarters have been good to us all season,” Lower Lake head coach Shannon Tubbs said of the 18 points scored by the Trojans in the final period to pull out the win. “It was kind of a combination of everybody, not just one person.”
Alisha Jones scored four of her six points down the stretch while also leading the Trojans with 11 rebounds and five steals.
“That was pretty big for us,” Tubbs said.
So were the 14 points scored by Sapeta in the second half after being held to just two through the first two quarters.
“She was kind of down on herself and I told her to just keep shooting,” Tubbs said. “She did a good job for us in the second half.”
“It’s fun playing them,” Clear Lake head coach Phil Psalmonds said of the Tubbs-coached Trojans. “They’re a good team.”
Psalmonds and Tubbs previously coached against each other while serving as JV boys coaches at their current schools.
“I’ve been coaching against Shannon for years,” Psalmonds said.
The two teams were never separated by much. Lower Lake led 15-12 after one quarter, Clear Lake had a 29-28 halftime advantage, and it was tied 38-all going to the final period.
Prior to the start of the game, Lower Lake junior Lynzi Milano, who has been sidelined since September as she battles cancer for the second time in her young life, was honored by Clear Lake’s players who presented her with a number of gifts and also donated all proceeds of a raffle to her recovery fund.
Tubbs said he was greatly touched by the gesture and said that Clear Lake player Ashlynn Gudmundson has made Milano’s courageous fight her senior project.
“Class act,” Tubbs said of Gudmundson, the Clear Lake team, school and its fans. “That school has done a lot for us over the years.”
Added Tubbs of players from both schools,”The kids play hard against each other when they’re on the court, but there’s bigger things in life than basketball. I can’t thank them enough.”
In the junior varsity game Tuesday, Clear Lake held off Lower Lake 55-42 to remain perfect (11-0) in the league standings. Abby Mertle led the Cardinals with 24 points, 21 of them coming in the middle quarters – 10 in the second and 11 in the third. Teammates Montana Wells and Rubi Ford added 11 points apiece.
After the two teams battled to a 19-19 halftime tie, Clear Lake broke the game open with a 24-12 third quarter that featured nine of Wells’ points.
“We went to a box-and-one on (Kyleigh) Mock and shut her down,” Clear Lake assistant coach Jeff Mertle said.
Ford scored all of her 11 in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
Mock led Lower Lake with 17 points, Kyra Womack finished with 11 and Terilyn Jo Jermany had eight.
